Flat type evaporator structure



Jan. l2, 1937. R H. MONEY 'E'r Al.A A

FLAT TYPE EVAPORATOR STRUCTURE Filed Aug. 23, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 had.

INVENTORS.

v" 4N so 0M e @H Ma MM M ATTORNEYS- Patented Jan. 12, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT oI-FlcE FLAT mn EvAPonA'roR Vs'ritUc'rUm:

Boland n. Money-and Lewis M. Crosley, cincinnati, Ohio, assignors to The Crosley Radio Corlcriation, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Application lAugust 23, 1934, Serial No. 741,132

'iv Claims. (Cl. 62-126) Our invention relates to the manufacture of header and likewise embossed in said plate. The evaporators or expansion devices, such as are plate alsobears throughoutits length and breadth used in refrigerators or in other cooling devices. a plurality of other embossed passageways not In particular our invention relates to the providirectly communicating with the ilrst. In formsion o f evaporators which, in their position of ing up our evaporator two of such plates are 5 use, are relatively broad and ilat. placed together in opposed relationship, where- It is an object of our invention to construct upon the header member of one of the plates evaporators of this type more cheaply than could forms an entrance way for the refrigerant, and otherwise be done, and especially to construct the header member of the other of the plates them of relatively simple and flat stampings of forms a place for the withdrawal of gaseous re- 10 sheet meta1, as will hereinafter lbe more fully frigerant. When so assembled the various rudidescribed. It is an object of our invention to mentary passageways in the plates connect so as make evaporators from two main plates of metal t0' form one continuous passageway from the which are stampings, with or without an interentrance header to the exit header. Depending vening plate which acts as a diaphragm, and uponthe shape of the rudimentary passageways 15 which need not be a stamping.. It is anv object referred to we use or omit a diaphragm member of our invention to provide a type of evaporator between the two plas.- having a continuous passageway from an entrance Referringnow to Figure 3, we have shown an portion to an exit portion, which passageway inevaporator comprising an upper plate shown in 2O sures the even circulation of refrigerant thereplan at l; This' plate is embossed as' at 2 to through, and provides against the formation of form a header member, which extends along/one so-called dead spots. It is an object of our inside of the plate, but for. less than its full extent. vention to provide evaporators so constructed, in An embossed protuberance 3 forms a passageway winch a plurality of diiierent kinds of stampings communicating with the header 2 at one end, and

5 need not be used, but in which stampings which at the opposite end in this type of evaporator we are reversible and are of a'single type, may be form a communicating embossed portion indiassembled in opposed relationship to form the cated at 4. At 5,' 5a, and etc. we have shown cmpleted eVaDOratOr. embossed rudimentary passagewaysv of generally These and other objects of our invention whlch- Z-shape, having ateach end oppositely directed 0 will be set forth hereinafter or will be apparent communicating embossings indicated 'at 8 and 1. so to one skilled in the art uponreading these speci- An orice maybe made in the header 2 as at l. cationa'we accomplish by .that certain construc I'he plate I may be formed as a single stamping tion and arrangement of parts of which we shall of metal. now describe certain preferred embodiments, it A pair of these metal stampings are Placed being understood that our invention is not limited together in opposed relationship. This relation- 35 thereto, but that modications may be made ship is shown in Fig. 2, where I again indicates therein without departing from the spirit thereof. the upper plate, and 9 the lower plate. `When Reference is now made tothe drawings, wherethe platesare so,.assemb1ed it will be seen that the header I0 of thelower plate is offset from Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of 'an exemthe'header 2, and does not' communicate di-,f

plary'type of small` refrigerator in which our rectly therewith. 'I'he passageway Il of the evaporator iinds utility. lower plate is closed at one side by a iiat portion Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of one type of the upper plate, but communicates as at l2 of our evaporator. with the passageway 5e. Similarly. the rudi- Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same. type. mentary passageways I3 to I8, inclusive, of the 45 Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the evaporator lower plate form communicating passageways taken along the lines 4, 4 in Fig. 3. respectively between the members 3, 5 and Se Fig. 5 is a plan view of another type of evapof the upper plate. Flat portions of the two l prator. f plates make, as it were, closed tubes of the em- Fig. 6 is a sectional view thereof takenvalong bossed passageways, so that there is between the 50 the lines 6, 6 of Fig. 5. header I0 and the header 2 in Fig. 3 a continu- Briey. in the practice of our invention we proous tube-like passageway which can easily be vide a vstamped metal plate having an embossed traced on the drawings. pfotuberance thereon adapted to act as a header, When the two plates are so assembled they s, and a passageway communicating with said may be' welded together about their edges, and 55' lower plate.

sure, it will be usual to spot weld the plates tol gether where hat portions thereof are juxta-- posed, as at places vmarked i9, 2B, 2l and the like.y A i'ltting 22 Vinay be welded into the peroration 8 in the header 2 and another iitting 23 may be welded into the perforation 2d of the A fitting 23 may serve as an entrance fitting for refrigerant delivered in any Way desired, but preferably by means of a capillary tube 25. The tting 22 may serve as an exit iitting for evaporated refrigerant and oil, and' may be provided with an oil skimmer 2t, such as that set forth in Patent No. 1,978,027, issued October 23, 1934. A tube 2l leads from the iitting 22 to the compressor of the refrigeration system.

In use the evaporator may be supported in a refrigerator cabinet by means of brackets 28 and 29, which are fastened against thewall 3b of a cabinet. In Figure 1 we haveshown in section a ,general assembly comprising a small size refrigerator cabinet having an upper refrigerated compartment 3|, and a hinged lid 32. A lower compartment 33 houses the usual motor, compressor and condenser assembly indicated broadly at 36.

' In use a shelf member 35 may be provided be. neath the evaporator so as to hold an ice cube tray 36 in close proximity thereto. Another ice cube tray 3l may be vcaused to rest upon the evaporator if desired.

We have shown in Fig. 4 a sectionthrough the evaporator thus far described, taken along the lines 4, 4 of Fig. 3. Like parts are indicated by like index numerals. It will be understood that by the particularconstruction of the embossed portions of the plates, there is provided a conportions of the other plate, excepting where actual communication is to be made.v This ,requirement, with plates of given size,'is apt to cut down the possible lvolume capacity of the evaporator as such. Consequently we have shown in Figs. and 6 another exemplary form of evaporator in which this requirement is not present, but in which a diaphragm'member is relied upon toconne the flow of refrigerant.

" It will be seen that the evaporator is again formed of two main plates indicated at 38 and 39, each comprising a header indicated respectively at 40, and 4I, and a series of embossed tube-likerportions indicated at 42 for the upper plate, and 43 for the lower'plate. It will be noticed that these tube-like portions are closer together in this evaporator than in the evaporator of Figs. 3 and 4, and that were the plates to be assembled without a diaphragm, the embossed tube-like portions would overlap for considerable portions of their length. Consequently, we have shown a diaphragm plate indicated wise.

acerbes spot welded together at intervals as shown at li. In addition, if desired, the diaphragm plate may first be spot welded to one -of the embossed plates prior to the assembly of the entire evaporator.

It will be understood that the particular form of the embossings which We have illustrated in our exemplary embodiments is not a limitation upon our invention. Other forms of tube-like l evaporator is useful not only in refrigerators of ordinary type, but is useful to replace such refrigerating coils as are used, for example, in beverage or bottling coolers, in air conditioning `systems and the like. For these uses the evaporators may be made of large dimensions iiat- They likewise may be perforated between the tubing portions, and the perforated parts welded together between the perforations, if desired, for the circulation of fluid. A plurality of the evaporators may be connected together in series or in tandem. lBeing relatively broad and flat, they may be used horizontally, or they may also be used vertically, especially since the connection between the headers comprises in essence but a single tube. These evaporators are for this reason also not subjectto the formation of dead spots.

Having thus described our invention, what we claiuii as new and desire to secure by Letters Paten SZ- 1. An evaporator comprising a pair of plates, each of said plates being embossed to form a header, a tube-like .portion communicating withsaid header, and a, plurality of discontinuous and incomplete tube-like portions, said plates being assembled in opposedrelationship so that said incomplete tube-like portions connect together to form a continuous tube extending from one header portion to the other. f

2. An evaporator comprising a lplurality of embossed metal plates, the embossings on said plates forming incomplete tube-like portions, said plates being assembled in sucha way that said'incomplete tube-like portionsA connect together to form a continuous single tube, Van unembossed portion of each plate serving as a. side of a. tube otherwise formed by an embossing of the otherplate.

3. An evaporator of. broad, dat shape comprising a plurality of embossed metal sheets, embossings thereon-forming tube-like portions open at 'one side, said plates being assembled together with a diaphragm member, said diaphragm member serving to complete said tube-like portions by closing the open side thereof, and` said diaphragm member being perforated toprovide an opening from one tube-like portioninto another so as to form in eifect a'continuou'stubing.

4. In an evaporator, a pair of metal plates embossed to form a header on each, and a plurality of incomplete and discontinuoustubes, said tubes having offset portions at their ends and said plates being assembled in opposed relationship so .that each plate serves to complete said tube-like portions of the other plate excepting in said offset portions.

5. An evaporator of broad, flat shape and for horizontal use comprising headers, and a continuous tubing extending between said headers, said evaporator consisting of a pair of identical embossed 'metal plates welded together in opposed relationship, each of said plates being embossed to form one header, said header being completed by an unembossed portion of the other plate.

6. An evaporator of broad, flat shape comprising headers', and a continuous tubing extending between said headers, said evaporator consisting of a pair of embossed metal plates welded together in opposed relationship, and an intermediate perforated diaphragm member, each of said plates being embossed to form a header and a `plurality of incomplete and discontinuous tube-like portions, and said diaphragm serving to complete said tube-like portions, said perforations therein serving as connecting means between said tubelike portions.

'7. An evaporator of broad, flat shape formed of ppposed. identical, embossed metal plates, each embossed to provide a header and a plurality of incomplete tube-like portions, one of which is connected to the header, the embossings in said plates being so formed and disposed that when said plates are assembled and welded together opposed relationship at portions of each plate' will complete said headers and said tubes excepting 'for end portions thereof which overlap, so that in the :dnal structure one header is connected to the other header by a continuous tubelike passageway.

LEWIS M. CROSLEY. ROLAND H. MONEY. 

